Reflection as an academic subject

Reflection may be something that we all do but many people do not think about doing it.  Is this the right or the only approach?

The art of Reflection is undervalued in a high-voltage, media-frenzied world.  Instead, ‘meditation’ has acquired a new-found meaning with an impetus accorded it by charismatic publicists, a corpus of literature and a rainbow of groups that all but corral people who might have wanted to reflect on whatsoever pleases them and is of use in their daily lives into the groove of this specific philosophy of life and living.  It may not be tapered to everyone’s need, however worthwhile.

Reflection was subject of Confucian writing and had traction in the ancient Greek world, notably through the ideas of the philosopher Socrates. The modern theory of self-awareness and emotional growth through the development of intrapersonal and interpersonal skills and social relationships draws heavily on the Socratic ‘Know thyself!’.

We can go back to first principles.  Reflection can colonise a mental and spiritual terrain vacated by the departure of meditation from some of its former meaning when the two concepts were almost synonymous.

The rapidity and ubiquity of modern modes of communication foster a general attitude that is closer to a ‘knee-jerk’ than a ‘Look before you leap’.  Letter writing and ‘sleeping on an issue’ seems passé.  People let fly with opinions, often shrill, and olde-world courtesies often are seen as quaint rather than de rigeur.   Time soaked up in allowing all aspects of a problem to come to light, not just initial reactions, do not sit comfortably with the pressures instanced by email or more insidious pressures encapsulated in the phrase ‘Action this day!’  As for letter writing!  Leave that to the Victorians and their occasional modern if fustian counterparts…!

The academic world is alert to this trend and has sterling advice that is only signposted rather than thundered from its ivory towers.  Where is its educator with a megaphone at his or her disposal.

The world is legitimately our oyster to open!  We can allow ourselves leeway to survey the entire panoply of human experience.  This has a charm and a value all its own. This virtual Institute is in part designed to help push open that door that is too often left only ajar.  It helps put flesh on the bones of which the spinal chord are the principles behind Reflection (see below).  Note the capital ‘R’.  Reflection, properly conducted, is a tool for clearer thinking.

People frequently treat the opinions of others as saving them the time to think things through for themselves, as if they too would have worked out the same routes if but they had allowed themselves the time to think about them.  This institute helps ideally to open lazy eyes as to the many and varied things about which one personally can choose to reflect.  Reflection is a starting block, a technique that is but the start of a journey of discovery and self-discovery that will vary at least in detail from person to person. With reflection in the knapsack of our habits we go forth into the outside world flexed the better for cogitating on the significance of what we find there.  It is a stepping stone to something beyond itself.

The study of Reflection counteracts the trend of its neglect.  Studies are afoot out to make it a recognised mental and academic discipline. The rationale is to enhance better lifestyles and decision-taking and to encourage objective and open-minded thinking, innovation, personal fulfilment and emotional intelligence.

Who are the teachers who take REFLECTION as an academic discipline?  What is their rationale?  Click on the landing box below for the basic principles.  What form do these studies take? The following section has details of some of the many practitioners, educators and psychologists who engage or engaged in the study of Reflection as a technique.